Norwich City vs Newcastle United. Sky Bet Championship.
Carrow Road.
Wednesday 15 February 2017 08:56, UK
Jamaal Lascelles' 81st-minute strike rescued a point for Newcastle after a frenetic 2-2 draw with Norwich at Carrow Road.
Rafael Benitez's side took the lead after just 23 seconds with Ayoze Perez's calm finish.
However, Norwich hit back through Jacob Murphy in the 12th minute before Toon goalkeeper Karl Darlow gifted the hosts the lead, miskicking a routine clearance which allowed Cameron Jerome to score into an empty net.
Newcastle regrouped but struggled to find the back of the net with Aleksandar Mitrovic hitting the post before the break and Matt Ritchie's effort cannoning off the crossbar early in the second half.
They eventually came away with a deserved point thanks to Lascelles' late volley, which maintains their position at the top of the table.
Newcastle, who brought in Perez for Mohamed Diame in one change to the side that won 1-0 at Wolves, flew out of the blocks and it was the forward who opened the scoring in the opening minute.
Poor defending allowed Jack Colback to pick out the Spaniard just inside the box and he produced a well-placed effort to beat John Ruddy.
It should have been 2-0 in the fifth minute when a slip from Russell Martin let Mitrovic race clean through, but Ruddy did well to block the shot.
Norwich, who responded well to the early set-back, were back on level terms in the 12th minute after Cameron Jerome used his strength to win the ball from Lascelles in the penalty area. The striker pulled the ball back across goal and Murphy was there to tap home from point-blank range for the hosts.
It got even worse for Newcastle five minutes later when goalkeeper Darlow was under little pressure as he stepped out to make a routine clearance but sliced the ball horribly. Jerome found himself completely in the clear with the ball at his feet and he even had time to celebrate before tapping into the empty net.
The visitors were stunned, but quickly hit back and it took an excellent reaction save from Ruddy to keep out a powerful header from Mitrovic. It was frantic stuff and the Canaries almost made it 3-1 just before the half hour when Newcastle were caught short at the back and Steven Whittaker fired inches wide.
There was still time for Mitrovic to fire a close-range effort against a post and Jonny Howson to curl a long-range shot narrowly wide before a high-octane first period drew to a close.
The leaders came desperately close to getting back on level terms eight minutes after the break when Matt Ritchie slammed the ball against the crossbar from inside the six-yard box after being set up by DeAndre Yedlin. Replays showed the ball had not crossed the line.
The Magpies were having the bulk of possession, with Norwich now defending well, although they lived dangerously again after 73 minutes when Mitrovic got to the byline, but was unable to pick out a colleague in the box,
They finally got back on level terms 10 minutes from time after Norwich failed to deal with an inswinging free-kick from Jonjo Shelvey. The ball finally found its way to Perez, who crossed for Lascelles to volley home at the far post.
Shelvey almost bundled home a late winner, while Ruddy denied first Perez and then Shelvey in injury-time.
Norwich boss Alex Neil:
"There are mixed emotions after that. Obviously you are not expecting to concede a goal in the first minute and we were really nervy in the first five minutes.
"But once we got our goal and then got ahead I thought we were excellent - the response from the players was top class.
"In the second half we started okay and then we started to drop deeper and deeper to protect what we had and the frustrating thing from our point of view is that we didn't see it out.
"It was a really good game, with two teams going toe to toe, not giving an inch and both trying to win it. In the end I thought a draw was a fair result."
Newcastle boss Rafa Benitez:
"We started really well, scored one goal and then could have scored another so it was a big shock when we went behind.
"There were a couple of mistakes but I told them (Lascelles and Darlow) at half-time to forget about it and just concentrate about the next 45 minutes because we were playing well against a good side, not a normal one in the Championship.
"I thought we responded brilliantly to going behind - the character of the players, and their reaction to the setbacks, was the most positive thing for me tonight."
